Panty girdle



2 Sheets-Sheet l M. GINGRAS PANTY GIRDLE May 25, 1965 Filed Feb. 25, 1963 Eys INVIENTOR MARcEL .GINGRAS May 25, 1965 M. GINGRAS 3,185,160

PAN'IY GIRDLE Filed Feb. 25, 1963 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR MARCEL GmaRAs Arr NEyS United States Patent 3,185,160 PANTY GIRDLE Marcel Gingras, St. Fey, Quebec, Canada, assignor to Dominion Corset Company, Limited, Quebec, Canada Filed Feb. 25, 1963, Ser. No. 260,667 Claims priority, applicatien Canada, Jan. 12, 1963, 866,379 1 Claim. (Cl. 128528) This invention relates to foundation garments and particularly to panty type girdles.

The invention consists essentially in providing, in the front of the garment, three layers of material extending downwards from the waist to a position approximately at the level of the hip line of the garment. The inner layer is a single piece of material while the intermediate and outer layers are formed of two individual pieces of material folded upon themselves along a mid vertical line and each folded piece being joined to the other by stitching along their fold lines to form right hand and left hand double layer sections. The lower edges of the right hand and left hand sections, before being folded, are cut at upwardly directed unequal angles on either side of the vertical fold line so that, when the sections are folded upon themselves, the outer layer exposes a portion of the intermediate layer at the bottom edge of the sections. The lower edge of the intermediate layers only are joined by stitching to the lower front portion of the garment a short distance above the crotch together with the lower edge of the inner layer of material, while both vertical edges of the right and left hand folded over sections forming the intermediate and outer layers, and the vertical edges of the inner layer are joined together by stitching to the adjacent edges of the side panels of the garment.

The object of the invention is to provide a cross-over front panel arrangement in a foundation garment.

A further object of the invention is to provide a degree of stability in the front panel of a foundation garment together with a degree of flexibility around the area of the front panel and particularly in the lower region of the front panel.

A further object of the invention is to provide a threelayer front panel for a foundation garment in which the intermediate and outer panels are formed by right and left hand sections joined together at the mid vertical line of the front panel for added stability.

These and other objects of the invention will be apparent from the following detailed description and from the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a front elevation of a panty girdle incorporating a three-layer front panel having a cross-over effect.

FIG. 2 is a horizontal section on the line 22 of FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a spread out plan view of the left hand section forming the intermediate and outer layers of the front panel shown in FIG. 1.

FIG. 4 is a spread out plan view of the right hand section forming the intermediate and outer layers of the front panel shown in FIG. 1.

FIG. 5 is a partial section on the line 55 of FIG. 4.

Referring to the drawings, the foundation garment 5 is illustrated as being of the panty girdle type and comprises a body encircling upper portion 6 and a pair of legs 7. The garment is formed with side panels 8 and 8 of stretchable material extending between a waist band 9 and the leg bands 10. A lower bifurcated front panel 11 of stretchable material extends down into the legs 7, and a main front panel 12 is connected by stitching 13 to the side panels 3 and 8' and to the adjacent upper horizontal edge of the lower front panel 11.

The main front panel 12 is formed with three layers of material, an inner layer 14, an intermediate layer 15 and an outer layer 16.

The inner layer 14 of the front panel 12 is formed from one piece of material and extends the full width between adjacent edges of the side panels 8 and 8' and the adjacent top horizontal edge of the lower front panel ll.

The intermediate and outer layers 15 and 16 of the front panel 12 are formed from two separate pieces of material 17 and 18, each of which is folded along a mid vertical line to form a pair of double layer left and right hand sections 19 and 20. The separate pieces of material forming the left and right hand sections 19 and 23 are shown in FIGS. 3 and 4 respectively in unfolded state.

The left hand section 19, FIG. 3, has its vertical side edges 21 and 22 cut to conform to the contour of the vertical edge of the adjacent side panel 8 and is folded upon itself along the mid vertical chain dot line 23. The area to the right of the vertical fold line 23 represents the intermediate layer 15 of the front panel 12 while the area to the left of the vertical fold line 23 represents the outer layer 16 of the front panel.

The lower edge of the section 19 is cut at upwardly directed angles on each side of the lower point of the vertical fold line 23, the edge 24 being at a more acute angle than is the edge 25 so that when the material is folded on the line 23 a portion of the intermediate layer 15 will be exposed as seen in FIG. 1.

Similarly, the right hand section 20, FIG. 4, has its vertical side edges 2-5 and 27 cut to conform to the contour of the vertical edge of the adjacent side panel 8' and is folded upon itself along the mid vertical chain dot line 28. The area to the left of the vertical fold line 28 represents the intermediate layer 15 of the front panel 12 while the area to the right of the vertical fold line 28 represents the outer layer 16 of the front panel.

The lower edge of the section 2% is cut at upwardly directed angles on each side of the lower point of the vertical fold line 23, the edge 3d being at a more acute angle than is the edge 29 so that when the material is folded on the line 2% a portion of the intermediate layer 15 will be exposed as seen in FIG. 1.

The exposed lower edge 24 and 30 which are not stitched to the lower front panel 11 are finished off with a binding tape 31 as shown in FIG. 5.

In the assembly of the above described garment the left hand folded section 17 and the right hand folded section are sewn together along their folded edges by the stitching 32. The vertical free edges of the sections 19 and 28: together with the vertical edges of the inner layer 14 are stitched to the adjacent vertical edges of the side panels 8 and 8 by the stitching l3 and at the same time the lower edges 25 and 29 of the folded over sections 19 and 2d are stitched to the adjacent edge of the lower front panel ll. During this latter stitching operation the lowermost part of both layers of the folded over sections 19 and 20 immediately adjacent their line of attachment to each other are secured by the stitching 13 to the adjacent edge of the lower front panel, thereby providing a mid point anchor A to which any pull on the garment is directed along the sewn line of the inner and intermediate layers of the main front panel and the adjacent edge of the lower front panel, and along the lower edges 24 and 36 of the outer layer of the main front panel which are free of sewing to any adjacent layer or panel.

The above described garment provides a high degree of flexibility at the waist region particularly valuable in a panty type girdle where a maximum of control is required while providing for maximum of freedom of movement of the legs. Variation of control in the region is Q obtained by'having the lower edges 24 and 30 of the front panel free of contact with the underlying layers and by having their outer ends located a distance above the junction of the side panels and the top edge of the lower front panel.

The embodiments of the invention in which an exclusive property or privilege is claimed are defined as follows:

In a foundation garment including a body encircling upper portion and leg portions, a pair of side panels, a lower front panel stitched to the side panels, a main front panel stitched to the side panels, the main front panel including three layers, comprising an inner, intermediate and outer layer, the inner layer stitched to both of said side panels and to the upper edge of the lower front panel, the intermediate and outer layers of the main front panel being formed by two sections, each of said sections being folded upon itself along a vertical fold line, said two sections being stitched together along the vertical fold lines thereof, one layer of each folded sec- 20 tion forming the intermediate layer of the main front panel and the other layer of each folded section forming the outer layer of the main front panel, the intermediate and outer layers being stitched to the side panels, the intermediate layer extending downwardly beyond the folded over portion forming the outer layer and the intermediate layer being stitched to the lower front panel, the lower edge of the outer layer being free of stitching whereby substantial flexibility is provided in the lower region of the front panel and stresses in the garment are transmitted to a mid portion of the lower front panel.

References Cited by the Examiner UNETED STATES PATENTS 2,775,767 1/57 Gould 128-530 2,966,912 1/ 1 Murdock 12854() 3,035,586 5/62 Bell l28-524 3,094,126 6/63 Goldstein 12s 530 3,113,572 12/63 Williams 12s 52s FOREIGN PATENTS 205,948 10/59 Austria.

ADELE M. EAGER, Primary Examiner.

LOUIS R. PRINCE, Examiner. 

